Local Love at the Kensington Kitchen is dedicated to food shopping and cooking in Brooklyn south of Prospect Park, with a special affinity for the neighborhoods of Kensington and Ditmas Park.
Avenue U Chinatown in all its glory
The first thing I do when I move to a new neighborhood is track down a source for my Asian food staples. It may take me months to get off my butt and visit this source, but I know exactly where to go when the time comes.
No live turtles means no temptations to bring one home as a pet.
We got lucky in Kensington. Spring roll wrappers were available at Eastern Fruit and Vegetable. Mung bean thread and good soy sauce were found at Golden Farm. It was easy pickings until I needed sweet rice for Christmas baking.
All the soy, fish and hoisin sauce a girl could ask for
This is when I found New York Mart on Avenue U. New York Mart is located in Sheepshead Bay, a few blocks off the Q train, in Brooklyn’s second “Chinatown” (after Sunset Park) and far more convenient for Brooklynites living on southern half of the Q/B lines. New York Mart isn’t as large and intimidating as the Asian supermarkets in Chinatown proper or Flushing, Queens, but it they have produce, they have fish, they have every kind of soy sauce you could ever want.
Ive never even seen dragon fruit before
Like most good Asian supermarkets, they’re prices are fabulously low and there’s little we enjoy more than good deals on food. A few weeks ago I wandered over for rice and tapioca flour and left with much more. For the a total of just under $17, I came home with this:
Yes, all this for under $17
- 2 kinds of rice flour
- tapioca flour
- egg noodles
- fish and soy sauces
- dried mushrooms
- raw peanuts
- 2lb green beans
- eggs
- spring roll wrappers
I highly recommend for the next time you need some reasonably priced jasmine rice, noodles or green tea. Next time I’m trying the butcher. I’ll let you all know how that goes.
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New York Mart on Avenue U (Previously Century Mart)
2309 Avenue U
Brooklyn, New York 11229
For more information on local grocery stores, check out out listings and map here.
